Animal Reports!

This week we have been working on nonfiction research.  After we did our whole group study on whales, I wanted to take it a little further and do cooperative research where my students were the teachers and leaders and I was just facilitating.  I decided that we would stick with animals because every 2nd grader is just absolutely enthralled with animals of all kinds!
I went to the library and checked out a TON of nonfiction books about animals.  I wanted each animal to have at least 2-3 books so that my students would have plenty of research material.  I got a wide variety of animals, and too many so that there would even be some left over!
After introducing what we were learning and doing, I had pairs of students come up and choose the animal they wanted to research.  They worked together to read and research, but when it came to writing, each student was responsible for their own report.  It was important that they were able to choose their animal, work together, and produce a final project on their own.
We spent a whole week on these animal reports.  The students really worked at their own pace to get everything accomplished.
I got the idea of the foldable from a project that our 3rd grade teachers had hanging in the hallway.  You can get the templates for mine HERE!  I just simply folded a piece of construction paper to make two doors.
My students did work together to create a drawing of their animal.  We didn’t have much time for this part, but they still turned out cute!
 Before there were final products, there was a lot that went into the researching.  Students asked questions and located answers.  They found things they thought to be true were not!  And, they could barely hold in all of the new information they were learning!  I know tons of animal facts just because they couldn’t keep it to themselves, ha!
I still have a few friends that need to finish, but as soon as they are all complete we will share our reports with the class!  I don’t teach Science, but I do still love incorporating this kind of thing into my language arts activities.  We learned a lot about text features, charts and diagrams, and gathering information about our topic!
94

Hi, I'm Amy

Hey, y’all! My name is Amy Lemons and I am passionate about providing students with both engaging and effective standards-based Math and ELA lessons.

FREE SAMPLE OF ROOTED IN READING!​

Sample a day of Rooted in Reading with these lesson plans and activities for Reading Comprehension, Vocabulary, and Grammar!

20 Responses

  1. Amy, your reports look great. My firsties are finishing their animal shared writing and research projects right now too. We have a “Writer's Showcase” Tuesday night for all the parents so they can come in and see their projects. They also make an art project at home to go with it. We've worked on them for about a month. They've had a blast! I love the foldable – great idea!
    Karen Rowland
    Adventures With Firsties

    [email protected]

  2. Amy Lemons! You. Are. Thee. Best! Thank you for this freebie! We are using Hope's Animal Unit week after next. It's a little too challenging for some of my sweeties this year. I've got it on my list of things to do to differentiate that unit. You just did it for me! Thank you! Totally made my day! Cross that off my list!

  3. Love it! My first graders worked on nonfiction writing earlier this year, but I really like the idea of creating a trifold! We'll definitely try this next year. Thanks for sharing!
    -Christa
    learninbooks.blogspot.com

  4. I like this project and have been looking for something to use for a group research/writing project. Am I missing how to get a copy of this freebie? I don't see it but would love to have it. Thanks.

  5. Hi Amy, I love this project and I plan to do it with my second graders in the next couple weeks! My question is, how did you grade them on this? Did you have a rubric to follow or was it just for fun? Thanks in advance! Can’t wait to see how they turn out in my class!

  6. Thank you for sharing this template, it will be so helpful for my grade 1/2 animal inquiry project! I appreciate it <3